Boonex Dolphin Review

Detailed Reviews

Businesses are certainly looking for mediums to create online social communities on which their users can shop, chat, announce an event, and even post an advertisement. This is perhaps because they do not want to stick to the rules of the existing communities, for the sake of introducing more flexibility for offering new and interesting way of interactions. This is exactly why a business might choose Boonex Dolphin.

Boonex Dolphin is a social media platform that allows creating vibrant, easy to use online communities. It is a self-hosted application that uses PHP and MySQL under the GPL license. This open source tool was originally designed based on the online dating script "aeDating" to work on UNIX-based systems but is now updated by Boonex to run even on Windows-based Web servers.

Plans

There are three plans on offer namely, Standard, Industry-typical, and Prime. Each of these plans differs in terms of price and features. The Industry-typical plan differs completely because its price varies as per your selection of basic packages with add-ons and premium solutions. It does not include the basic features that the other two plans come with, which include all Dolphin modules, lifetime updates, and no branding.

Installation

Installing Boonex Dolphin is relatively simple through a script. You only have to download the BoonEx Dolphin script, upload it to your server, create a database, and run the script that takes you via the installation steps. Dolphin offers a Red 5-based free media server app that is essential for running a few media streaming modules. This can make installation a bit difficult because not all Web hosts support Red 5 by default.

User Interface

As compared to the previous versions of the software, the new version features a better design and clear structure. The menu system is much better now making itself easier for users to navigate and search stuff. The new Dolphin interface looks quite similar to Boonex.

Open Source Code

The source code of the script is unencrypted, which means it is open for modification. You can easily tweak the code to add more functionality for taking customization to a new level. This is bound to please the creative developers who wish to add their own creativity, something that the existing social media sites do not offer.

Product Features

The core features of software are wrapped up in different modules. The software comes with 36 modules to add different functionalities to your community site. You can add ads, payments, articles, blogs, photos, videos, avatars, polls, chat, quotes, events, files, forums, spy, and page access control. You can even allow users to log on through Facebook, add polls, post public messages, chat with members, and add photos/videos.

Private Messages

Sharing messages privately is one of the core communication tools of this software. The site members can use a built-in messaging system called Mailbox for sending messages to the concerned recipients without letting other members know about it. The system also allows handling contacts and blocking unwanted users.

Site Builders

Having an easy builder can result in quick development of your site. This is something that this software offers. Boonex Dolphin comes with a variety of builders such as Page Builder, Profile Fields Builder, Navigation Builder, and Mobile Builder, which ensures optimal customization of your site.

Custom RSS Feeds

This cool feature/module enables the administrator to allow the users to add custom RSS feeds. This helps in displaying some most interesting posts from profiles. This is perhaps the big pulling point for all those who wish to retain their users on the site. The module can even help promote the users’ sites or use their favorites on their profiles just as Google Reader.

Direct Access to Apps

Boonex Dolphin allows connecting to other famous apps as well as sites on the World Wide Web. Users can quickly access Google, games, World Map, and more for searching as well as browsing according to postal code, published content, and games. Further, with Facebook Connect, users can access Facebook and match friends over there with the site’s members. This is invaluable for expanding an online community quickly.

BoonEx Market

BoonEx allows users to create custom extensions, plugins, templates and tool and sell them through their market. That way users can extend features of their social network, the way they want. At the time of writing this review there are more than 300 items in the market for users to select from. These includes both free and paid items.

Membership

One of the coolest features of Dolphin is the online store that allows uploading products and selling them. The site members collect payments, which means the sellers directly communicates with their customers. It has famous features such as the shopping cart for making purchases.

While a few users make money by selling membership, some sell different levels of membership. Keeping this in mind, Boonex Dolphin enables administrators to change their membership as per their choice. This means that they can charge to become a member of the site or provide better deals or information to those who wish to become full members.

Conclusion

Apparently, Boonex Dolphin is useful for any type of business or organization. However, organizations such as non-profit ones, bloggers, ecommerce, real estate agents, dating service providers, and classified advertisers tend to benefit more through the variety of modules.